California Water Service Group $CWT Shares Acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase increased its stake in California Water Service Group by 14.7% in Q3, buying 35,627 shares to hold 277,245 shares (about a 0.47% stake) worth roughly $12.72 million.
• Strong quarter and higher payout: CWT reported Q results of $0.61 EPS (vs. $0.36 consensus) and $265.6M revenue (above estimates), and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.335 ($1.34 annualized) for a ~2.9% yield.
• Market and ownership snapshot: Institutional investors own 82.78% of the stock; CWT trades near $45.79 with a $2.73B market cap and a P/E of 21.3, and analysts carry an average "Moderate Buy" rating with a $55 price target.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Free Report) by 14.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 277,245 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 35,627 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.47% of California Water Service Group worth $12,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in California Water Service Group by 8.8% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 47,341 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,294,000 after buying an additional 3,810 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 21.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 311,502 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,095,000 after acquiring an additional 54,277 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of California Water Service Group in the 1st quarter valued at $5,979,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in California Water Service Group by 432.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 27,161 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 22,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,810 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 4,055 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.78% of the company's stock.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of California Water Service Group stock opened at $45.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.64. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $44.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.51. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $41.29 and a 52-week high of $51.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.25. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 12.82%.The firm had revenue of $265.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This is a boost from California Water Service Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. California Water Service Group's payout ratio is presently 62.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.00.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

California Water Service Group NYSE: CWT is a publicly traded holding company that provides regulated water utility services through its subsidiaries. The company delivers safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater management to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers across California, Hawaii and New Mexico. Its principal operating units include California Water Service, New Mexico Water Service and Hawaii Water Service, each responsible for end‐to‐end water supply operations—from source development and treatment to distribution and customer service.

Founded in 1926 as the California Water Service Company, the group has grown to become one of the largest investor‐owned water utilities in the United States by customer count.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CWT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.